I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to vehicle trailers. More particularly, the present invention relates to a trailer for towing vehicles such as snowmobiles, motorcycles, all terrain vehicles and the like and the trailer having a self-contained motor fuel holding and pumping apparatus for providing fuel to snowmobiles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, and the like that were towed on the trailer.
II. Description of the Relevant Art
The use of trailers for hauling or towing snowmobiles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles ("ATVs") and similar off the road vehicles have become increasingly popular concurrent with the growth of interest in use of such vehicles. Such trailers are hauled behind heavy duty trucks or four-wheel drive vehicles or automobiles.
The user of such off-the-road vehicles prefers to use these vehicles in remote areas, generally in areas which are far distant from the amenities of civilization which may include fuel stations. Accordingly, once the user of an off the road vehicle finds himself with his hauling truck, his trailer and his trailered vehicle out in the wilderness, he may find himself out of fuel.
As a method for acquiring fuel for his off-the-road vehicle, the user may select to remove fuel from the hauling or towing vehicle. However, such a practice is inherently dangerous in that the user may find that he has drawn more fuel from his hauling vehicle tank than is required to return to civilization. Accordingly, his need for motor fuel to power his off the road vehicle places him in an unfortunate position.
As an alternative to this, many off the road vehicle users have elected to carry full or partially full fuel cans in their hauling or hauled vehicles. While this practice eliminates the inherent dangers related to pumping too much fuel out of the hauling vehicle, it presents perhaps even greater dangers in that carrying the cans of highly volatile motor fuel is a dangerous practice which may result in an explosion of one or more of the cans. Motor fuels inherently include volatile fumes which are difficult, if not impossible to contain. Once these cans have been placed inside of a hauling vehicle, the possibility of explosion is extremely great. Also, the inhalation of noxious fumes clearly poses a danger to the driver of the hauling vehicle and to passengers.
Lastly, the off-the-road vehicle user may find that he has to settle for the mileage obtainable from a full tank of gas in his off-the-road vehicle. While this is perhaps the safest of solutions, this circumstance clearly limits the use of such off-the-road vehicle to the mileage possible out of this limited amount of fuel.
Accordingly, the prior approaches to providing the off-the-road vehicle user with fuel as required have failed to eliminate the inconvenience and danger associated with them.